LITERARY.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 8120, 20 September 1904, Page 4

LITERARY.

TflE REVIEWER. "Trout-fishing and Sport in, Maoriland," by Captain G. D. Hamilton. (By courtesy of the Colonial Secretary, from the* Government Printer, Vvallington.) One green-covered production that was recently issued in Wellington under Government auspices deserved and met with severe treatment at the hands of most critics ; this handsome volume does credit to all concerned in its preparation. The author, Captain Hamilton, formerly of Dannevirke, has been long and intimately connected with acclimatisation work here and with sport here and in Great Britain and Europe for some sixty years. He has undertaken to' furnish — and in some 430 pages has excellently carried out his undertaking — a practical encyclopedia, mainly of trout-fishing, but with information on other sports available ; he supplies facts of more practical use than are found in the ordinary guide-book. Captain Hamilton tells sportsmen where to go, how to go, what to take witb them, what they will find when they get there, and bow to set abouc killing that prey which is alive. Technical information as to tackle and equipment, from rods to flasks, from gut te bait, descriptions of useful flies, hints on casting, striking, lake fishing, trolling, hints on approaching game, dn deer-stalking, cattlehunting, pig-hunting and winged-game shooting — these are the contents of one section of the book. In about two hundred pages Captain Hamilton gives a terse description of about one thousand Maoriland lakes, rivers, streams and turns, taking each Island from North to South, each 1 stream or other feature being described I with its surroundings (such as the nature of its fishing, hotel accommodation, means lof access), and sufficient particulars are ! given to enable intending sportsmen to obtain a clear idea of what is before them. An alphabetical list of the features described is added. A separate map of the colony to go with the guide is obtainable from the Government Printer. There are a number of good half-tone engravings, about half of them showing " takes " of trout in various districts, and two plates lithographed in colours illustrating artificial flies. The book is well and fully indexed, and is the careful work of a man who knows and has "been there." No pretence is made to do more than state facts. Lord Ranfurly' s opinion is prefaced that the book should he invaluable to visitors and the hints to beginners should be of much assistance. "The World of Inventions and Patents," by G. G. Turri. (From the author, Melbourne.) This little book, purports to be a Key to Progress and Wealth. If a -vigorous *

statement of tho advantages of ingenuity, exercised in the direction ■ of inventions, be such a Key then the claim is justified. It shows, how ambitious mechanics and. students may achieve wealth and distinction, bow they may increase the industrial welfare and, the national greatness of their country. Following are some of the contents : — Some Munificent Rewards, Ameri- j can City Marvel*, the Solar Motor, Carnegie and 'Maxim, tbe Scientific Genius, ' Thinking in Aeons, Edison's 'Automobile : Battery, Edison on Inventing, London Patent . Finance, War Invention Problem*?, How Invention Pays, Have You Patented, Answers to Correspondents. It entertains as well as instructs. Particularly interesting are an account of the Solar Motor, used in California, and the chapter on War Invention Problems. Mr Tnrri is a master in his profession, that of patent agent, audi his instructions and statements of fact- are calculated, to be of distinct value to inventors ; reading this little book will stimulate some brains, aaid it will do none any harm. Particulars are given of many directions in which money can be made by inventive ingenuity, and of instances in which* large sums have been ao made. The Answers to Correspondents deal with such questions as how to obtain and deal with patents in different countries, who can obtain them and the cost. Dealing with how invention pays Mr Turri says: — " Business men and manufacturers are on Uhe alert for new and desirable inventions which will supersede or rival those on the market, because they thus secure novelties which enable them, (to a great extent) to monopolise trade ih their lines of business, and make sales more extensively. Every wellinformed person knows that an industrial monopoly is the desire of the commercial man. This monopoly is at present permitted and encouraged under the Patent Laws, and an American expert states that the greater proportion of wisely secured, ivell managed patents yield handsome profits. The monopoly of a good trade in _ good article often assures a fortune.''

" The Coloured Conquest," by Rata. (New j South Wales Bookstall Company, Ltd., Sydney.) A lurid shilling ehocker, counterblaeting the opponents— for instance, Mr E. W. Cole— -of a White Australia. An alarmist little book (with an alarmist cover depicting Brobdignagian dark men trampling on and through white Liliputians), in whioW Rata depicts melodramatically what Rata fancies will be the fate of the world, esr pecially Australia, when tho Yellow Peril becomes "top dog." Instead of visiting Sydney as representatives of a friendly nation, the Japanese, after wiping opposition off the earth ahd cowing tho nations, come as conquerors to a Sydney that bas been treated on. the precedent of Moscow before Napoleoq. Tiie "little brown men!' take charge and calmly reduce the white* r to tho level of slaves, also taking effective steps to reduoe their numbers. This phan- . tas-ma-goria has added, not by way of sensation, but probably aa being -usual, m tragic love story and some illustrations. "The Masterfolk," by C. Haldano-Macfall ; " Sentimental Studies," by Hubert Crackanthorpe ; "Algernon Casterton," by J. A. C Syke«. London: Mr W. Heinemann). A virile book, a picture of life, this of Mr Macfall's. In its ninety-four chapters are cameos of the Budding and the Blossoming of the Tree of Life, and of the Budding and the Blossoming of the Tree of Knowledge. The title-page says "The Masterfolk— wherein is attempted the -unravelling of the strange affair of My Lord Wyntwarde of Cavil and Miss Betty Modeyne," but there is much more than that unravelling. There are characters cleverly and sympathetically limned, types of men a&d. women of to-day ; there is clever dialogue ; there is phil- j osophy ; better than all, there is humanity |' and thought, uplifting thought. , Through realism, often dramatic, sometinließ ' repel- I leat^ tl» wadw w ; #awu witb. mftrierly art '

to the author's conception of the Masterfolk of the world. No slight sketch can do jur-tice to " Tbe Must-erfolk," its pictures of Bohemian life in London and in Paris, of the careers of artists and writers, of darlings of society and of Anarchists; of women who excel and of women who stray ; of the love-story of Noll and his Betty, who find happiness after much striving, of Mr Quogg Myre and his diabolical meannesses, of Aubrey the poet, of Gomme the writer. Those who remember Jezebel Pettyfer's wooinga will be prepared for straightforward, strong work, which they will find. Mr Macfall is an 'apt pupil of the great English master to whom he modestly dedicates his story — George Meredith. The most appropriate remark that occurs to the writer is to advise that "The Master. oik" be read, if for nothing more than the Parisian scenes and the figuremore than a figure — of Eustace Lovegood. And there is so much more that nothing more will be said of it here, for the book ! contains something that will engage the atI tention' of ninety-nine out of ahunI dred. The Lite Mr Crackanthorpe's • work has points of resemblance to "The : Masterfolk." Both are realistic, but in place of the big, generous canvas that seethes witb life, irrelevancies included, and j flares with colour, the pioture shown by the author of "Wreckage" is a comparatively small, careful, ■ detailed and forcible view of life's episodes, with the irrelevancies omitted. In the words of a reviewer, Mr Crackanthorpe "takes an ethical or emot ional situation, studiously ignores the most ] obvious features, and by concentrating his J energies on it as a pictorial subject, produces effects which absolutely bite themselves into our perceptive sensibilities." He is somewhat like Mr Henry James in his careful choice of the fitting epithet. There iis never a carelessly strung sentence. He ! has carefully studied the French realists . led by Balzac and De Maupassant — he has oeen called the English De Maupassant. H-e is reticent— comparatively, for a realist — in his treatment of subjects that easily lend themselves to a different treatment. He is direct and impersonal in his art. "Modern Melodrama" is a grim piece of tragedy ; there is not a. wasted word in the dozen pages of human vivisection. A commonplace chapter tells of a man with a "past" who marries a girl without that much-discussed attribute ; his fall from grace and the results are dispassionately reviewed. The promise of these studies is great ; Mr Crackanthorpe, when he wrote, j bad seen much, and seen it with an understanding mind. The death of the author I robbed the literary world of a valuable pen. Of " Algernon Casterton " there is not a g-reat deal to be said. It is one of a large number of apparently faithful pic- ] tures of what the writers have seen ; in this instance the authoress is the Lady Sykes, whose name has been before the public as that of a party in a well-known law suit. Lady Sykes knows English society, at least the " smart set " of 1 it, or she ought to, and she gives a picture tha.t includes a number of features calculated to produce the impression that the Radical outcry against the aristocracy and the Upper Ten ha-s some grounds of justice. When "ladies" are found living very far j beyond their means, gambling, brib r I ing jockeys to ride " crooked," and doing a number of other things it is perhaps as well not to mention, one can only hope that the dirt has been swept into the corner, and that the selection is not a fair sample of the bulk. One ha* heard that the dignity formally credited to English society has suffered somewhat of late years owing to pecuniary influences ; Lady Syke4* shows how " money talks," in the experiences of Wolfgang, the mean and ambitious Jewish millionaire. The story is written with care, and, if. not attractive, is deserving of the attention, due to an honest attempt at the pourtrayal of phases of social life. a "The Ohurch Hymnary," the music edited by Sir John Stabler. (London : Henry Frowds, Amen Corner.) An abridged edition for the use of the young, of the Hymnary authorised for use in public worship by the Church* of Scotland, the United Free Church of Scotland and _>:esbyte-rian Churches of Ireland, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa. The ! treble and alto parts are given in staff notation. The little book is neatly produced, bound in dark green cloth. " New Zealand Illustrated Magazine " for August. — An interesting and well-illustrat--1 ed account of a trip to Taupo and the volcanoes; an appreciative notice of Mr D. M. Ross's book of verse " The Afterglow," a further instalment of Rollingstone'e "Old Fence Doc," Spindthrift's graphic account of what he saw in the East End. of London (very interesting as evidencing how the sights of the great metropolis strike acolonial eye), a description of a new addition to the list of inventions for dealing with iron-sand, a brief ahd interesting sketch of the late John Farrell, the sturdy Australia^ poet, journalist and reformer (best known, -perhaps, as the writer of "How he Died" and also of what has been described by competent critics as th© best English Jubilee Ode known), the usual story and verse, literary chat and Lady's Bower columns make up a good number.